Favorite bar/brasserie in Paris close to my apartment.

Vintage store with super good selection

Opened in 2011 by the people at Magnum Photo Agency (their Paris bureau is a few streets away), Le Bal is an institutional exhibition space dedicated to the documentary image. For the most part that means lots of photography exhibits but they like to mix up the shows with videos and especially books. They hold conferences with a great line-up of guest speakers and screen documentaries and other films at the nearby Cinéma de Cinéastes. Be sure to check out the bookshop where you can browse through their connoisseur’s collection of high-end photo books and limited edition zines. Le Bal Café is a great place to meet friends for a quick drink or sit down and taste Anna and Alice’s Anglo-French cuisine. And if you’re wondering why it’s called Le Bal, the space was once a dance hall cum brothel in the roaring ‘20s.

This cinema is located in a modern part of the city. You won’t find any old buildings there and no tourists either. We love this place because it’s located just next to the « Bibliothèque National de France ». This place is huge and this kind of hugeness spaces are very unusual to find in Paris. When you place yourself in the middle of the 4 buildings and look up, it almost makes you dizzy because of the vastness of the place. We love it because it makes us feel free and at the same time completely overwhelmed by the space. Paris is one of the city in the world where you can find the more cinemas. And you have food trucks with nice food just in front of it to have a snack to enjoy a nice movie.

Great place to have a drink at night, take a coffee or eat. The dishes are very well prepared and very qualitative, reasonable prices.